While the first time or occasional skier might rent skis when needed, those who have caught the skiing bug prefer to own their own skis. For the avid skier, however, the reality quickly sets in that owning your own skis means transporting them to whatever ski location you visit.
There are various snow ski cases/carriers available in the market. Most of the cases available in the market are bulky and inflexible to adjustments for various sizes of the skis available. As a result, when a skier changes his ski set when upgrading to a higher level, he is compelled to change his case also and spend more money.
A solution to this problem is a typical ‘big’ case, which is meant for skis measuring up to about 215 cm. An average skier generally chooses a ski with a length, which is approximately the distance between his head and foot, and is increased and decreased slightly according to experience level. Therefore, the length of the ski will rarely exceed 215 cm. From a desire to provide standardized cases, which is sized for all skis, many case manufacturers create a one-size-fits all case that is manufactured to accommodate skis up to the maximum length. As a result, the skier may end up carrying a case which has extra space that may never be needed and thus must carry a case having unneeded length and unnecessary weight. This becomes quite cumbersome for the skier while travelling. Considering that avid skiers often do a great deal of travelling, carrying a case/bag, which is larger than required does not make much sense.
Another issue with the ski cases in the market is that even after taking their skis out of the case, the skier has to make space for the bulky big case which still requires the same amount of space whether holding the skis or not.
Another problem with the cases available in the market is that they open at the end and require skis to be inserted and taken out of the case axially. With the significant length of the skis, it is difficult to maneuver the skis out of the case and into it. Considering that the skis may be six feet long, removing the skis from the end of the case may require more than twelve feet of space! Thus when travelling in tight quarters, it might not even be possible to remove and repack one's skis without needing to go outside.
To overcome the problem associated with the bulkiness of the case, manufacturers have tried to make cases out of fabric and other textile materials. But these tend to wear out quickly and are prone to entangle while travelling especially on baggage conveyances. Further, the fabric case, though light and flexible, often provides insufficient protection to the skis. Therefore, the skiers generally prefer a hard ski case, and must deal with all of the drawbacks mentioned above.
Other cases available in the market have too many parts, which are loose and there is a risk of losing them. Further, many require that the skis and poles be arranged in a bundle before they can be inserted in the case.
While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose employed, or for general use, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present disclosure as disclosed hereafter.
In the present disclosure, where a document, act or item of knowledge is referred to or discussed, this reference or discussion is not an admission that the document, act or item of knowledge or any combination thereof was at the priority date, publicly available, known to the public, part of common general knowledge or otherwise constitutes prior art under the applicable statutory provisions; or is known to be relevant to an attempt to solve any problem with which the present disclosure is concerned.
While certain aspects of conventional technologies have been discussed to facilitate the present disclosure, no technical aspects are disclaimed and it is contemplated that the claims may encompass one or more of the conventional technical aspects discussed herein.